The invention relates to a protective cover for a taking lens (i.e., a picture taking lens) of a camera, and more particularly, to such a protective cover which is slidably mounted on the body of a camera so as to be movable between a first position in which it covers the taking lens and a second position in which it exposes the lens.
As is well recognized, a usual camera which uses a 35 mm wide film roll is provided with a lens cap which is fitted over a lens barrel to cover the taking lens whenever the camera is not used in order to guard the taking lens against the deposition of dusts or fingerprints or other damages. The cap is removed from the camera when it is desired to take a picture, and with the consequent result that it may be lost.
A lens which is incorporated into a finder optical system and which must be protected in the similar manner as the taking lens is left exposed in a usual 35 mm film camera, except for those miniature cameras which are flat and rectangular in configuration, which employs a special, small size film of the cartridge type and which have a case which is slidable relative to the body of the camera so as to cover more than one-half thereof. With a miniature camera having a slidable, lens protecting cover, the case must be laterally moved to expose the taking lens and/or finder lens when taking a picture, thereby resulting in an increased overall size of camera, which becomes as large as twice its original size. Hence, such an arrangement cannot be employed in a usual camera which uses a 35 mm wide film roll. A miniature camera is also known in which the taking lens and/or finder lens is protected by a cover comprising mating halves which open on the hinges. However, the required arrangement is complex, and does not lend itself to use in a usual camera.
It will be seen that the lack of a protective cover for a finder lens such as that used in a rangefinder in a usual camera which employs a 35 mm wide film roll, though the need for its provision has been admitted, is attributable to a prejudice that only a reduced practical utility is obtained for all its complex and expensive arrangement.